The Bright Light
by Deja Know I Been Lookin For Vu
Summary: Mara's thoughts on Luke.


**Title:** The Bright Light**  
Summary:** Mara Jade's Feelings on Luke.  
**Author's Notes:** Yeah, so I couldn't think of a title, so I just grabbed at that phrase. This was an exercise in...well, I'll let you figure it out by observing the bold. ;)

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M**aybe it's his suffocating desire to convert me to the ways of the Jedi...Maybe it's that smugness he hides beneath the surface because he is always so certain that _his_ way is right...Maybe it's---well, whatever it is, Luke Skywalker infuriates me. 

...**A**nd what is it with him and always wearing black? Isn't black the color of death? Isn't he advocating death on some subliminal level?

**R**arely have I seen him _not_ looking like the bad guy in some cheap horror flick. At least, in the way he dresses. Black clothes. Drab, hooded robe.

...**A**s if he could actually _scare_ someone with those innocent farmboy features of his. _Snort_. Somehow, I can't really imagine Darth Vader ever looking anything like Skywalker. Although Vader did seem to have an obsession with the color black...

**J**ust like Skywalker, huh? Like father, like son. Minus the fact that Vader liked to choke people to death.

...**A**lthough I _have_ seen the "venerable" Jedi Master mad a time or two...Or ten...Or...Well, I lost count a long time ago. And he was generally mad at me those times, without good reason. He can have _quite_ the temper over trivial matters, I've found...

**D**arth Skywalker, Lord of the Tiffs...Heh, it has a nice ring to it. I'd start calling him that, but then he'd get pouty. Blasted farmboy.

...**E**ven when I try to steel myself for that pouty lip of his, I can't help but feel the tiniest bit sorry for him. Though I'd rather bite my own tongue off than admit it.

**L**uke Skywalker is in many ways a mystery to me. He preaches the Jedi Code, saying that for a Jedi there is no passion, but he is the most passionate person I know. He is stubborn about his beliefs, would go to the end of the galaxy for those he cares about, and would not hesitate to give the shirt on his back to a stranger.

...**O**nly _he_ can be so trusting of the inner good in people..._Frown_. Trust...That's something I've never really felt...

**V**ader, I'm convinced, would never have been turned back to the Light Side if his son were a different person. Skywalker's always had this bright light about him that is impossible to extinguish and difficult to ignore. Stars, even when Skywalker's angry that infuriating light can still be seen in him.

...**E**ven _Palpatine_ probably would have turned to the Light Side if that had been Skywalker's goal, though it would not have been the farmboy's easiest conversion...I mean, I was dead-set on killing Skywalker, I had it drilled into me by the Emperor...But then I saw that Light, and I just couldn't kill him.

**S**ome people who've never met him might call me crazy for saying that any one harbored some strange light within. But upon meeting him, I don't think they could really deny it.

...**L**uke Skywalker is almost a miracle in this day and age. One would think that after all he'd been through, there would be great bitterness toward the galaxy inside him. Never met his mother; his aunt and uncle murdered; friends killed; hand cut off by one of the most sinister men in the galaxy, who just so happened to be his father...He's seen so much evil in people...By all rights, he should be tarnished, cold, embittered...

**U**tax V has a saying, and there is a variant of it on most planets, but Utax V's version is specifically: "The rockbird not crushed by stony opposition is hardened." But what is hard to understand with Skywalker is: how was he _not_ crushed, and why was he _not_ hardened?

...**K**arrde once muttered something under his breath about how unbelievable Skywalker is, but I don't really think he's so much unbelievable as he is beyond belief.

**E**ven the great Master Yoda, from what I had heard, was hardened by the galaxy, though perhaps he didn't seem so to Skywalker at first. If a great being with so much trust in a mystical galactic force could not withstand wear to his emotional state, then how could this boy, thrust into circumstances that would make a grown Hutt cry, come out with his light as bright as ever?

...**S**ure, Skywalker sometimes likes to exude an air of wisdom and experience more befitting of his Jedi Master status, but that farmboy is still there within him, will always be there...

**K**ids love him, animals adore him...It's like the innocent flock to him, like they can sense the bright light inside him...

...**Y**esterday, I saw a holo of him on the news. He was smiling, practically glowing, and the people around him were smiling, too. When he is happy, it makes other people happy, makes them feel like their entire universe is a better place...

**W**herever I go, I can't escape the thought of him, and it enrages me. Why should Mara Jade, ex-Emperor's Hand, be constantly thinking about some Jedi who was once her enemy?

...**A**ll my life I was told that the Jedi were my enemies. Palpatine killed Jedi, Vader killed Jedi...The Jedi were to be exterminated. They were annoying pests, possibly deadly enemies. Why was it so hard for me to hold on to my hatred after joining Karrde's group?

**L**uke Skywalker. The answer to all my questions seems to involve Luke Skywalker. Blasted farmboy-turned-Jedi from a tenth rate planet. Able to melt ice cubes with his bright smile and frighten Dark Jedi with his icy stare. Able to annoy the fire out of me with less than ten words. And yet, he was always...Always, well...

...**K**eeping me in line so I don't say things I'll regret...Believing in me when no one else will...Always willing to help me...Never backing down in fear of me...**  
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E**ven _Solo_ knows not to mess with me, for Sith's sake. Is Skywalker so naive that he doesn't see the danger in upsetting Mara Jade? Or has he looked into my soul and seen that I _do_ have a weakness. Yes, hard to believe though it is, somehow, Mara Jade, ex-Emperor's Hand, has a weakness.**  
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...**R**oxianthian rat spiders couldn't drag it out of me, but I...feel...Skywalker is...I think...I..._Blast _you, Skywalker! Why can't I ever get you out of my head?

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Author's Notes:** So, it is a very random piece, yes, but it was fun to do lol. Comments are welcome, as always. 


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